Local Color
Sarna News
Local Color | |
|---|---|
| Short story by [see notes] | |
| Publication | |
| Published | 30 September 2009 |
| Published in | Handbook: Major Periphery States |
| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs |
| illustrator(s) | Doug Chaffee |
| Pages | 5 |
| Chronology | |
| Era | Civil War era |
| Timeline | 12 September 3067 |
Local Color is the introductory fiction piece for Handbook: Major Periphery States.
Contents
Plot Summary[edit]
In a September 3067 trivid broadcast of Scoop! Vidzine, 120-year-old retired periphery MechWarrior Temperance MacCaulay narrates her personal history to interviewer Denise DeValera.
According to MacCauley, she was raised on Tumbleweed, a periphery mining outpost where she learned to service and later pilot IndustrialMechs. In 2960, when she would have been around 13 years old, the world was pillaged by pirates from the Tortuga Dominions who caused widespread death and destruction, leaving MacCauley with a desire for vengeance against all predators like them and setting her on the path to become an Errant MechWarrior.
On Illyria, she was a tech to one Ty Falco who one day offered her his family BattleMech, "Gray Lady", if she would take his place in an upcoming death match that Falco - a drunkard on a downward spiral - wanted to back out of. MacCauley won the match through "blind luck", in her words, and got to keep the 'Mech (apparently, a Centurion; see below). She then embarked on a military and mercenary career, working for the Illyrian militia, then on the Lyran Commonwealth border against Oberon Confederation raiders, then in the 2980s with Interstellar Expeditions exploring the deep periphery. In 2995 she returned and took up work on Cadiz where she fought off the Horsemen of the Apocalypse pirates under one "Black Maria" at some point. After a while without much happening on Cadiz she hired on with the Arms of Thor mercenary unit for around a decade, then left the unit on good terms to pursue a solo career and became a trainer on Logan Prime just after Marius O'Reilly took power in the Marian Hegemony in 3009. MacCaulay was with the militia when they repulsed O'Reilly's invasion of Logan Prime.
In the 3010s she was with an Outworlds Alliance pirate hunting force against Helmar Valasek's pirates.
On Astrokaszy in 3026, a young Lyle Steadman hired her as bodyguard and fixer for hunting treasures in the periphery. Their adventures ultimately resulted in some wealth, and MacCauley, after returning to the Inner Sphere sometimes after the Fourth Succession War, sold the worn-out "Gray Lady" and acquired another (unspecified) BattleMech which she named "Lady Day". With her new 'Mech, she joined the 'Mech games on Hardcore to "christen her in the field".
By 3035 she was training militias on remote worlds in Magistracy of Canopus while the Canopian military was occupied with the "Andurien situation", including a stint as a MechWarrior academy trainer where she met - and was impressed by - Emma Centrella. She later helped smuggling Emma Centrella off Hardcore and return to depose Magestrix Kyalla Centrella, which MacCauley in her memoir described as her last exploit before going into comfortable retirement on Luxen in the Magistracy, making use of the advanced medical technology available there to enjoy a long life as the periphery's oldest living Errant.
Featured Characters[edit]
- Denise DeValera
- Temperance "Temper" MacCaulay
- Caesar Marius O'Reilly (mentioned)
- Helmar Valasek (mentioned)
- Emma Centrella (mentioned)
- Magestrix Kyalla Centrella (mentioned)
- Wilkie Jones (mentioned)
- Ty Falco (mentioned)
- Liz Bennett (mentioned)
- Li Jun Park (mentioned)
- Marti Winter Moon (mentioned)
- Lyle Steadman (mentioned)
- "Black Maria" (mentioned)
Featured Units[edit]
- Thor's Arms (mentioned)
- Magistracy Royal Guards (mentioned)
- Illyrian Militia (mentioned)
- Logan Prime Planetary Militia (mentioned)
Featured Places[edit]
- Andurien (mentioned)
- Astrokaszy (mentioned)
- Cadiz (mentioned)
- Canopus IV (mentioned)
- Far Edge (mentioned)
- Hardcore (mentioned)
- Illyria (mentioned)
- Logan Prime (mentioned)
- Luxen
- Santander's World (mentioned)
- Tango (mentioned)
- Taurus (mentioned)
- Ten-A-Two (mentioned)
- Terra (mentioned)
- Tethys (mentioned)
- Thraxa (mentioned)
- Tumbleweed (mentioned)
- "Brass Monkey" (mentioned)
Featured BattleTech[edit]
BattleMechs[edit]
While the exact type of neither "Gray Lady" nor "Lady Day" was specified, art going with the story depicts a woman (presumably MacCauley) working on a 'Mech that has Gray Lady written on it. The 'Mech's visible head section in that picture is clearly that of a Centurion, with distinctive details virtually identical to the Centurion as depicted in the original Technical Readout: 3025 and shown from the exact same angle.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Diane Piron-Gelman, Herbert A. Beas II, and Joel Bancroft-Connors (additional writing) are credited as the authors of Handbook: Major Periphery States. It was not indicated who wrote the introductory story.